Koon Pushes Bill: Try Young Offenders as Adults

I'm all for this bill - and hope to goodness it does get passed. One has to wonder if this gang chose this kid to do the shooting because he'd get off in just a few years because of the current law. Gangs could use the kids to do the dirty deeds and these kids would be out in just a few years! Change this current law and prevent that!

concerned, i completely agree.

OMG there has been a bench warrent out fot this kid since april from the department of probation, and st. josephs villa, come on 11 months to find this kid , or were they really not trying? no they were busy putting innocent people away.

Here is a thought...instead of tougher laws lets package up all of our unappreciative street teens and ship them to Kenya for a year. We can bring back an equal amount of students from Kenya. They are struggling just to get a school built so the kids can learn...eagerly I might add. I am sure the Kenyon students would appreciate the little these kids had and didn't....

Samjmpki, I found this information on Wikipedia. Eric Smith IS being held agents his will. He is still in prison. The only thing I see different in this case is it was a sexual assault and a murder of a four-year old. The case we are dealing with now is as Assault 2nd and the 23 year old victim lived. Eric M. Smith (born January 22, 1980) is an American criminal, incarcerated for the murder, sexual abuse and mutilation of four-year-old Derrick Robie on August 2, 1993, in Steuben County, New York. Smith was sentenced to 9 years to life in prison. He was denied parole a second time in 2006, and again in June 2008

whattheheck, I agree. "He's a monster who should be eliminated." He has single handedly eroded our society. His behavior has changed the face of the city. Like you said, this "animal's" childhood delemias are irrelavent.

localmom, As far as I know little, Eric Smith is currently being held in a Psychiatric Facility. Probably somewhere in upstate N.Y. He is no longer being detained (held agaisnt his will). It appears to me that he is adhering to the recomendations that his doctor's have made. (Our doctor's.) "Our tax paying dollars at work."

How do you figure that he'll only get 10 years? If you remember the Eric Smith case from Savona, NY, he murdered a 4yo in 1993. He's still in a maximum security prison. How will this boy get off with less?

In response to brownies comment...We have refused to deal with him so far.....no disrespect, but quite the contrary....The Rochester City School District said in a statement that Tyquan attended city schools until sixth grade, when he received services from other programs, including the juvenile justice system. “A great deal of support and attention were poured into our work with this young man. Working in partnership with community agencies, we reached out to him, worked with his family, and provided the social and behavioral support that would make a difference,” said Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard in a statement. “The fact that every resource at our disposal couldn’t overcome the lure of the street is testimony to the important work we do and the challenges we face as a community.” So in a nut shell, the punk doesn't give a rat's patoot about himself and for obvious reasons, anyone else. Lock em' up tight and throw away the key!

This is not this kid's first rodeo. We have refused to deal with him so far, so I have a political hack trying to tell me that 20 years instead of 10 years in one of our crime colleges is going to solve this problem ? He is going to re-enter the world some day. Instead of the typical political pandering, why in America of all places do we not have a solution for dealing with these kids. It would be a lot easier to deal with a 14 year old than a 34-44 year old who has spent his life learning how to be a better criminal.